Pioneer Day.

July 24

One of my favorite Pioneer DAY stories {as opposed to just Pioneer stories...} is one of our old neighbors from Donegel Bay in Rexburg. A few years prior, our neighbor, Deb was selling encyclopedias {I think} somewhere further East. Deb is from Utah. This was her summer job. On Pioneer Day, as she was out selling, she would wish the people a happy Pioneer Day. After many confused looks she had received, her selling companion finally told her that it is only a celebrated holiday in Utah. (I probably butchered the story, but you get the idea.) And it's true. Even member of the church in other states don't usually recognize Pioneer Day, with the exception of Idaho. But, in Santa Maria, California, a group of really good mommies made sure their kids learned about Pioneers on Pioneer Day, and take them on a mini "trek", aka: stroller ride. And I was one of those mommies!

I made Macie a little Pioneer bonnet on Thursday night. And I remembered that I don't sew. What was I thinking making a bonnet?? I started at around 10, thinking that it shouldn't take too long. The pattern looked easy enough. Yeah, if you can read a pattern. After a few hours, I finally finished it and was in bed by around 2 AM! It looked pretty cute. I had all three kids clothes laid out for them. A "pioneer" dress for Macie {or the dress that my Mom said that I wore when I was 5...oh, how styles change...DRAMATICALLY!} jeans and a button up shirt for Noah, overalls for Jake, and I couldn't forget the bandanas for the boys, too. The looked like cute little Pioneer children. I showed them pictures of Pioneers and told them about them. But, I made a huge mistake.

I don't know what in the world I was thinking. I was just telling pioneer stories, no harm right? Well, I said this:

"Some pioneers were little kids, just like you. They had to walk a long way. But, some of them got sick and died."

It seemed alright, until Noah and Macie's eyes got HUGE. Both of them looked a little horrified and said almost in unison:

"We don't want to go."

I felt awful. My poor kids thought they were going to die if they were Pioneers! I'm a terrible mother. I tried to make it all fun and then I tell them that people died? How fun is that? But, I made up for it. I told lots and lots of good stories and reassured them that this would be fun!

We headed over to Kristyns house, and started the stew. Pioneers ate a lot of stew, don't ya know? And then we got the kids read and headed out on our "trek". It was fun. The kids walked, and sang, of course. Noah wanted to go home right away, but I told him that we were Pioneers and we had to walk even though he didn't want to. It sounds like it was torture, but it was fun, I promise!